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ShopSight: Own the Moment of “First”

“Create what’s next, buy it first.” ShopSight’s AI platform revolutionizes retail by uniting creation, hype-building, and purchase into a single flywheel. It empowers shoppers to co-design tomorrow’s products and secure them before they hit the mass market, giving brands unprecedented real-time insights and a direct line to consumer desire.

  1. ShopSight: Own the Moment of “First”
  2. How It Works
    1. Co-Create
    2. Pre-Drop Build-Up
    3. Exclusive Drop Window
    4. Post-Drop Loop
  3. Key Mechanics & Differentiation
  4. Business & Revenue Model
  5. Traction & Milestones
    1. Product Roadmap (First 12 Months)
  6. Team & Advisors
    1. Leadership Team
    2. Advisors
  7. Funding & Ask

How It Works

ShopSight’s innovative platform guides both shoppers and brands through a seamless four-phase journey:

Co-Create

  • Shopper Experience: Consumers engage in design or prediction challenges, actively voting on and tweaking product concepts.
  • Brand Experience: Brands launch these challenges directly from their dedicated Brand Page, gaining immediate access to live demand data.
  • Platform Value Capture: ShopSight captures value through a crowdsourced R&D dataset and challenge hosting fees.

Pre-Drop Build-Up

  • Shopper Experience: Shoppers track real-time interest via a “Drop Meter” and earn badges for sharing and promoting.
  • Brand Experience: Brands fine-tune SKU counts, pricing, and variants using analytics derived from this engagement.
  • Platform Value Capture: Premium analytics upsells are generated during this phase.

Exclusive Drop Window

  • Shopper Experience: Shoppers gain access to gated product drops with an auto-queue and anti-bot measures. A $10/month Universal Drop Pass provides a 10-minute head-start, special pricing, and loyalty multipliers.
  • Brand Experience: Brands set precise drop rules, including time-boxed releases, unit caps, and dynamic pricing.
  • Platform Value Capture: ShopSight earns a 5-10% transaction fee and membership revenue.

Post-Drop Loop

  • Shopper Experience: Consumers showcase their purchases, with the option to resell or trade using a verified digital Proof-of-Originality (COA), and feed reviews back into future challenges.
  • Brand Experience: Brands analyze sell-through speed, user-generated content (UGC), and secondary-market signals.
  • Platform Value Capture: ShopSight receives a secondary-sale royalty and offers deeper brand subscription tiers.

Key Mechanics & Differentiation

ShopSight stands out from competitors like Shopify, Nike SNKRS, Patreon-style memberships, and Kickstarter by offering:

  • Universal Drop Pass: A single $10/month membership for access to all brand drops.
  • Drop Calendar & Countdown: Personalized feeds, iCal integration, and SMS/WhatsApp alerts for upcoming drops.
  • Proof-of-Originality (COA): Tamper-proof digital certificates (NFT-optional) that track secondary sales for royalty splits, doubling as a social flex and resale receipt.
  • Fair-Shot Queue: A randomized queue with device fingerprinting to combat bots, where loyalty points improve a user’s odds.
  • Instant Wait-List Auto-Charge: Eliminates dead inventory by automatically moving to the next buyer if a purchase fails.

ShopSight differentiates itself by focusing on consumer co-creation, providing real-time validation for brands, incorporating a built-in reward system, ensuring speed-to-insight (under 48 hours), and leveraging ethical, bias-aware AI. This dual value creation for both brands and consumers drives sustainable growth and retention.

Business & Revenue Model

ShopSight operates on a diversified revenue model:

  • Membership ($10/month): Expected 70% gross margin, offering tiered perks like shipping credits and queue priority.
  • Transaction Fees (5-10%): Volume-scaled fees split with payment processors.
  • Brand SaaS Tier ($499–2k/month): Provides brands with access to the challenge engine, demand heatmaps, and cohort analytics.
  • Data API: Anonymized trend signals sold to industry analysts.
  • Secondary-Market Royalty (2%): Automated via smart contract or custodial ledger.

Traction & Milestones

Founded in April 2024 by D. Nick Davis, ShopSight has quickly achieved significant milestones:

  • Bootstrapped with a $150K bank loan.
  • Launched MVP in May 2025.
  • Graduated from Rev1 Ventures Accelerator in May 2025.
  • Secured 5 brand contracts, including Rishi Snacks (first brand), Dalton Union (first paid), Bikini Flavors, and iAntus (major PO).
  • Gained conceptual buy-in from major brands like Apple, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bacardi, and Nike (Jan-March 2025).
  • Built a patent-pending platform on AWS Amplify with generative AI (Amazon Bedrock, Replicate).
  • Partnered with Coupon Clearing House for rewards in May 2025.
  • As of June 2025, has 38 brands in the pipeline with 4 live on the ShopSight site.
  • Current monthly burn rate: $20,000.

Product Roadmap (First 12 Months)

  • Q1 (Beta): 5 pilot brands, invite-only pass (KPI Gate: 10k members wait-list).
  • Q2: Universal Drop Pass launch, Drop Calendar app (KPI Gate: 30k active pass holders; <1% bot purchases).
  • Q3: Secondary-market launch + COA (KPI Gate: 20% GMV from resale; 70% items resold priced up).
  • Q4: International shipping + tier-2 brands (KPI Gate: $1M MRR, 50 brands onboard).

Team & Advisors

ShopSight boasts a highly experienced leadership team and a strong advisory board:

Leadership Team

  • D. Nick Davis (CEO, Chairman): Serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, former executive at Singularity University, PWC, Rocketspace. Author of “Future Ready.”
  • Ben King (COO/CINO): Former executive at Bosch, co-founded a previous company with Nick Davis, experienced in startup ecosystems.
  • J. Matt Thompson (CTO): Leads all platform development and R&D.
  • Erica Ritchley (CExO): Extensive experience in customer experience, with 3 exits and 1 IPO.
  • J. Jay Gaughan (VP Marketing): Focuses on marketing, sales support, social media, and PR.
  • Iris Coker (VP Partnerships): Drives growth, influencer strategy, and partner development.
  • David Pickering (VP Data): Specializes in data science, machine learning, and AI.

The CEO, COO/CINO, and CExO have worked together at multiple prior companies, including a successful startup. The team is actively interviewing for a Chief Growth Officer.

Advisors

  • Kari King: Startup Founder, former executive at Teads.
  • Kent Rademaker: Director of Creative and Brand for Scotts Miracle Grow, former Abercrombie & Fitch executive.
  • Carlos Pignataro: Mentor in Residence at Duke University Ventures, former CTO of Cisco.
  • Kelly Bean: Principal of Heron Strategy Partners, former Senior Associate Dean at Washington University.
  • Kristin Scott: Former President and MD for Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, and Gap.
  • Sarah Sylvester: Former VP of Marketing for Victoria’s Secret.

Funding & Ask

ShopSight is a Delaware C-Corp and is currently seeking to raise $2,500,000 in a Pre-Seed round (bootstrapped to date with a $150K bank loan). They are open to a SAFE or Equity investment and are actively seeking a lead investor, with interest from the Ohio State Early Investor Network. The round is open as of June 2025 and an estimated close in Q4 2025.

Current Asks include:

  • An Ohio-based lead investor for the $2.5M Pre-Seed round.
  • Introductions to streetwear, beauty, and niche sneaker brands with cult followings.
  • Legal support for regulatory/tax review (resale royalties, memberships).
  • Guidance on their tech stack (Polygon vs. custodial ledger, anti-bot vendor).
  • Validation of CAC through a beta wait-list landing page to collect emails and $1 reservations.